


Earth 1 - The Peter without a Tony

by Cammerel



Series: Starker - Multiverse Shenanigans [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Multiverse, Superior Spider-Man - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:13:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22167679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cammerel/pseuds/Cammerel
Summary: “Mister… Stark?” he asks weakly.Tony nods, the rest of his bleeding edge armor returning to his chest piece, “It’s just me, kid. Come on, don’t let this… don’t let this be you, it isn’t you. You’re good, I know you’re good.”
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Series: Starker - Multiverse Shenanigans [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1456183
Comments: 16
Kudos: 99





	Earth 1 - The Peter without a Tony

He leaves Earth 4 with a lighter heart.

Tony meets a Peter and Tony literally on their wedding day, and then another couple in the midst of battle. And then he reaches what would… likely be referred to as ‘Earth 1’ in their little pocket of the multiverse.

But he never could’ve been prepared for what he finds.

It’s always been easier looking for himself than it is to try and find Peter.

He finds Stark Industries. But it isn’t ‘Stark Industries’, it’s ‘Parker Industries’. And the security on it is… 'intense' is one word.

The building is built relatively similar, located in the same place as the Stark tower in his own time, but there are at /least/ a couple of miles of land clear… despite the fact that it’s literally in the center of New York.

Tony circles it carefully, getting closer and closer until he manages to steal a key card and knock one of the guards out.

Sneaking in is easy. Getting out might be another story, so he’ll have to shift worlds inside.

He taps his chest, his bleeding edge armor covering him and he activates the retro reflective panels just in time as a guard turns the corner in his direction.

Tony slides past the woman, moving further and further up into the building, joining a group in the elevator and activating the sound barrier.

“FRIDAY, scan for lower heat signatures,” he narrows his eyes when she does, searching, searching…

Out of all of the people in the building, there’s only one that could possibly be Peter, running at a cool ninety-two degrees. Pete always was colder than the rest.

“Bingo,” he says to himself and steps out on the top floor.

It’s when he /sees/ Peter that he feels his legs turn to actual lead.

The young man has half his hair shaved down on the left side, three plugs running into spots between the start of his hair and his ear, all coming from a machine in the corner of the room.

Along his back, straight down his spine is a sort of bionic protrudance from the skin with four actuators, long arms made of the same titanium-steel. The four move in different ways, two of them helping him at the head of a bed, the other two working on a set of commands on the display above.

“Ahhh! Stoooop,” he hears the groan coming from the bed, the body on it shaking visibly.

“Let him out, Banner,” Peter says over the screams of anguish, “Make this easy on yourself and do us both a favor. You can’t hold onto him forever.”

“No…”

Tony barely gives a glance to the blood along the floor before aiming his wrist, “FRIDAY, any chance you still got my night time virus?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Light ‘em up,” he says softly, shooting out the little honeycomb of tech.

Peter turns almost the exact moment the bug lands, howling in rage, the arms flying out towards Tony. He’s still in stealth mode, but as he’s the only door open in the room, Peter doesn’t have to make much of an assumption on the general area.

Two of the arms clamp onto the wall, pulling Peter around towards him. The other two split off into blades.

Tony lifts his hands to charge his repulsors as Peter comes in close, eyes wild. One blast hits the wires coming out of his head, cutting through all three in a swift burst. His movements slow, his body slumping forward but the arms keep him from going horizontal completely.

“Was that you or me?” he asks, his heart still racing.

“Unclear.”

“Well, either way… worked like a charm,” Tony breathes, reaching out to Peter and touching his face, “Oh, kid, what have they done to you?” he whispers softly.

He glances at the red lines around the plugs in the kid’s skull, brushes his fingers through Peter’s soft brown hair, and then changes his arm piece to connect directly with the metal spinal graft. The data transfer will take a moment, but he looks past Peter to see Dr. Banner on the table at the center of the room.

“You okay, Bruce-y?”

“Nothing a Hulk-out won’t fix,” Bruce says weakly, “I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, Tony, but it makes absolutely no sense that you’re here.”

“It does when you consider that I’m such a meddling brat that I couldn’t even keep to my own universe.”

“Ah.”

“So, I take it I’m dead in this one?”

Bruce groans, but confirms his deepest fears, “Yeah. You’ve been dead for some time. It’s good to see you.”

“You as well, big guy,” Tony tilts his head slightly, “FRIDAY, you almost got her in there?”

“Forty-nine percent, boss. We’ll get there, Peter had a lot of information stored.”

“Good girl,” he says breathlessly, tense muscles cramping, “Once she’s uploaded, get her started on an update for the new monkey-arms. I’m sure she’ll appreciate being able t-ah!”

One of the said monkey-arms grabs him by the shoulder and clamps down hard, denting his armor and cracking it in a few places.

Peter’s eyes snap open as another changes into a sort of bone-saw and starts in towards him.

He’s yanked back tight to the wall, the two lower arms trying to rip his leg armor off piece by piece. Another hits him, the reflectors flickering out so that he’s finally fully visible.

“Pete-” he’s hit hard across the face, the young man’s hands reaching out to grab his helmet, to try and pry it off.

“Show your face!” Peter shouts, face filled with more rage than Tony’s ever seen in him, it’s completely out of character, “How dare you-who do you-!?”

Tony drops back his helmet, the hands grabbing his jaw and neck and starting to /squeeze/, “Peter, stop!” he says desperately, “It’s me, kid. It’s me.”

The four arms stop immediately, the feral look in the younger man’s eyes lessening and the claw on his shoulder drops its hold as his hands soften to cup Tony’s face probably seconds before bone would’ve started giving way, “Mister… Stark?” he asks weakly.

Tony nods, the rest of his bleeding edge armor returning to his chest piece, “It’s just me, kid. Come on, don’t let this… don’t let this be you, it isn’t you. You’re good, I know you’re good.”

“Mr. Stark,” Peter says again, voice so low it’s almost a whisper, the whites of his eyes gone pink, tears blurring them, “It’s not me.”

“I know it’s not.”

“He’s… he was… they’re… it’s in my head,” the kid mumbles, shaking as the hands on Tony turn gentle, caressing his beard, brushing his neck, “You… you died. How are you here?”

“It’s a long story, kid,” Tony says, “One I’d like to share when I’m sure you aren’t going to rip my head off. How do you feel?”

Peter shakes his head as tears drip down his cheeks, “I don’t know. I-I could’ve killed you. I almost killed you-”

“But you didn’t. Breathe with me, underoos.”

Peter chuckles. It’s a sweet, sad sound that makes Tony’s heart clench.

“I’m a monster.”

“You’re not a monster,” Tony says firmly, “Don’t even think about it, don’t you /ever/ think that, sweetheart. Listen… I wanna get you out of here. There are probably a lot of people here that want you dead, but I need your express permission. I need to make my intent clear.”

Peter’s sadness turns confused, “Permission? In-in-intent?”

“To take you away.”

Peter’s eyes widen, “Are you… gonna kill me?”

Tony laughs, “You think I could actually do something like that?” he asks incredulously, “Not in a million years, not in a million scenarios, Spider-Man. No. I want to take you to a different universe. Let this place heal on its own. It doesn’t need us. And I kind of don’t like the idea of them holding you responsible for anything this… /thing/ might have done.”

“One hundred percent,” FRIDAY informs them.

Peter starts to ask, but then smiles slowly, “Karen?”

“Hello Peter.”

“Karen,” he wipes his nose, “Oh my god.”

Tony touches his cheeks and kisses his forehead, “What do you say, Pete?”

“I’ll go,” Peter says, shoulders setting, “Whatever you think is right, sir. I’ll go. I’ll go with you.”

“You able to get out on your own, Bruce?”

“Sure can,” the other man in the room says, watching them curiously, “You’re taking him away, huh?”

Tony nods, “Any chance you saw nothing?”

Bruce smiles and shrugs, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Good man, always nice to see you, Bruce,” Tony says and rubs Peter’s back, then opens a portal and steps through it first, reaching out for Peter’s hand, “Come on, kid. I know someone that can help us out.”

Peter doesn’t even look back, doesn’t even hesitate. He takes Tony’s hand, walking through as well - arms and all.

They’re a ways away from Eden, but Tony figures the trip might give them some time to talk.

Peter looks around the landscape with wide eyes, “What… happened here?”

“That’s for Fohawk to explain,” he says, holding his hands up, “I wanna actually hear about where-” he motions to Peter before leading the way, walking through the rubble, “-all of this came from. What happened? Please tell me that I didn’t do this to you. I don’t think I could stomach knowing-”

“You would never hurt me,” Peter’s brows furrow, “Don’t you remember dying?”

“Different Tony,” Tony tells him honestly, “I’m from a different universe. It’s sort of a long story and I’ve explained it many times. But yeah. I’m from Earth 13. And you are… Earth 1. But I found a Tony without a Peter a while back and I think he’d appreciate having some company.”

Peter’s brows lift, “What-”

“How did I die?”

“What?”

“In your universe, Earth 1,” Tony elaborates, “How did I die?”

Peter shrugs, the arms attached doing the same motion with him, “You… you snapped Thanos and his army out of existence.”

“I did?” Tony’s eyes widen, a smile slowly growing on his face, “Not bad. Actually kind of impressed.”

“Stop smiling, it’s not something you should smile about. It killed you.”

“Still, pretty badass, right?” Tony asks, nudging him.

Peter shakes his head, looking down at his feet, “Not really,” his voice goes small as he stops, “It was horrible seeing you there,” he admits, “Seeing something like that with someone you love-I… I-I mean, I… I mean-”

“I’m aware,” Tony cuts him off before he can stammer himself into an early grave, “Trust me, I’ve been through plenty of universes, the feeling is not exclusive to you. Turns out we’re a match made in heaven, at least on our side of this cluster of universes. Chances are there are some weird ones out there, but for us… it’s us.”

Peter smiles slowly, “You mean-”

“I mean,” he nods.

“Well… that’s okay then,” he says as they continue walking, his hand reaching out tentatively to take Tony’s, “I wonder if my Tony loved me like… like the others do.”

Tony shrugs, “Maybe. I can’t speak for the guy, but I know about twenty-three other Tony’s, myself included, and they’re all on ‘team us’. Some of them a little warily, but I’m convincing.”

“After he died, I… I lost everything,” Peter tells him, “I lost my fight, my purpose. I felt so alone. I tried to keep Stark Industries from going under, especially when Pepper retired to raise Morgan. I signed on some new tech, Doctor Octavis pretty much took me under his wing…”

“Octavius?” Tony presses.

Peter reaches up to touch the top of the tip of the bionic spine along the nape of his neck, “He seemed nice at first. But then he found out that I was Spider-Man, and…”

“Let me guess. The megalomaniacal Doctor Octavius couldn’t bare the thought of such strength being entrusted to someone as young and innocent as you, so he… what? Took matters into his own hands?”

Peter nods, “After he took over, he had the name of the company changed indefinitely. He-... I… killed so many people, Tony, I…” he starts to hyperventilate, hands dropping to his knees.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Tony grabs his arms, helping him back up, “It’s okay, you don’t have to think about that anymore, okay? You’re in a place where they can’t hurt you or judge you and no one ever will. Trust me, you’re safe here. The people on this planet? They don’t have that bad taste in their mouth. The only Spider-Man they know was a hero, like he always /has/ been. Like /you/ have always been. What you did wasn’t your fault, and it wasn’t you. End of story.”

“I don’t know if I’m so sure about that, Mr. Stark.”

“Well, I am. I know you,” Tony says firmly, “I know you up and down, left and right, professionally, personally, intimately… all the ‘ly’s’. And you would never do anything intentional to hurt another living being. You’re good, okay? I just spent a /lot/ of time convincing another version of myself that you deserved not to be treated like a fucktoy, and deserved the love interest role, hands down. I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t believe in you.”

“Fucktoy-?”

“Besides the point. Regardless, I brought him into the fold, even he can agree that you’re a good person,” he turns, walking backwards as he looks at Peter, “Peter Parker? Good person. Spider-Man? Good person. Super Spider with metal arms? Also a good person. You’re always you, kid.”

Peter smiles weakly, looking doubtful but not willing to voice it.

“Look, Karen will get you squared away,” Tony assures him, “She’ll take care of everything, you’re not under any threat. And whatever the hair plugs on steroids are, we’ll get it figured-”

“I thought I told you that if I saw you back on my planet, I’d kill you.”

Tony turns back and smiles, opening his arms wide, “Hey there, Grumpy Stark. I brought a little gift. Here’s a hint: it’s Peter-shaped,” he says, waving his hands out towards Peter.

His other self stands at the top of a short cliff ahead, one hand out with his gauntlet and the other at his side, looking every bit the action hero.

The guy’s get up is a little much, honestly. A large red poncho. A nice white dress shirt tucked in from the looks of it, Tony can also make out a black waistcoat buttoned and a black tie, the torn black jeans low on his hips. And a pair of the most manly boots this side of the Milky Way.

“You had to build a machine to drag him here?”

Tony glances at the arms, “Not my tech. And it’s actually a cool story. Lots for you two to talk about, I-” he stops when he sees the look on Peter’s face, staring up at his other self - the wide eyes, the flushed cheeks. He gets it. He clears his throat, “Look, man. I finally found a Peter who lost his Tony Stark. Tell me you want him. I mean, what are the chances? Got room for one?”

His other self blasts off from the cliff to join them on eye level and that’s when Tony realizes why the boots are so extra - they’re utilized, nice. Fohawk Stark walks closer, gauntlet relaxed at his side but still engaged, “You mean Peter, right? Not you. Because I don’t have space for another one of me.”

“Oh god, no,” Tony laughs, “There’s only room enough for one of my egos per universe.”

“Good.”

Peter covers his bare chest nervously.

“Here,” his other self says, taking off his poncho and offering it, “Should work out.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark,” Peter responds, putting it on.

“Tell me you didn’t kidnap this kid,” Fohawk says then, looking at Tony, “He came willingly?”

“He did,” Tony says defensively.

“I did,” Peter confirms, “Mr. Stark, uh… other Mr. Stark is right. I don’t think the people of Earth 1 would be too happy if I stayed there, honestly.”

Fohawk Stark looks back to Peter, smiling sadly, “Yeah, it’s probably the same for me here, but, eh. I’m stubborn. And they’ve kind of grown to rely on my genius, which is both a blessing and a curse. But I think they would appreciate a familiar… well, technically they never saw your face. But there’s quite a few Queens folks that have nothing but good things to say about the superhero that kept their little corner of New York safe.”

Peter smiles widely, “Yeah?”

“Absolutely, kid.”

“Well, my job here is done,” Tony says happily, patting himself on the shoulder and opening another portal, “You two take care of eachother. I can’t fix everything.”

“Thanks, Mr. Stark.”

“Hey, Tony.”

Tony stops, turning to look at them, “Yeah?”

His other self smiles, something real and genuine… and personal, “Thanks.”

Tony shrugs, smiling sadly back to his other self, “Any time, call me ‘Cupid Stark’, I guess.”

“Mr. Stark?”

“Yes, dear?” Tony asks on reflex, turning and stilling when he sees his very own Peter Parker poking his head through the portal, “Uh, kid. I mean. Kid. Need something?”

Peter glances between them all, “Is that… really you?”

“Really me,” he waves back to the others, “Later you two, have weird babies.”

“What?” his Fohawk doppelganger asks, sounding alarmed.

He steps through the portal without answering or elaborating, closing it on his side and glancing around the building, the lab, making sure it’s as he left it… but it isn’t.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic series (which is over 44k) and anything I write like it are already posted elsewhere first and foremost. With at least 10+ Starker fics incoming over there, I figured I'd toss something up here for the time being, but updates will be slow as I have many other Starker WIPs and not a lot of real time.
> 
> For full releases at once, visit my Tumblr @Cammerel to find out more (speech bubble in the bottom right).


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